I am in the early stages of planning our trip next August. I have the Barry Boyce book, which has proved very helpful, so I am at the moment researching prices and options to see what will fit into our budget and our dates. We are combining the trip with the wedding of our friend in Quito so I suspect it will all be based on the timing of the 7 day trips and our frequent flier availability.

I wasn't sure if we might get a better deal if we enlist the help of my friend's fiancee to deal with a local agent in Quito to book. My last foray into using a local (recommended) agent for our honeymoon in South Africa failed miserably so I am a bit hesitant to do it, although I will have a person in Ecuador who can handle things for us versus the last time.

Does anyone have any feedback on agents they used and whether it makes a difference how you book from a pricing perspective? We're coming from the US. Thanks!

Hi - we booked using at agent in Puerto Ayora where we were staying for a month so we were able to get a really last minute deal of 50% off the Eclipse - a great price.

Her name is Jenny and her company is Moonrise Travel

http://www.galapagosmoonrise.com/

Another regular poster here (Percy) had a great experience with an agent in Quito - here's a link to a posting where Percy gives the contact information

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...our---help.cfm

www.saexplorers.org good info discounts for booking also.

Be careful with unknown locals lots get scammed

We booked thru Klein Tours, a very well respected agency in Quito...however, they didn't provide the type of follow-up or guidance that an American agency would provide.., some emails took a long time to get answers to, I didn't get any final documentation regarding the cruise. It felt like I had to pull the answers out of them. And, our cruise was cancelled 3 days before we left and were put on their larger cruise ship, which was maddening. However, the flights worked, the cruise worked...so I guess it all worked out. You can read my trip report "Ecuador & Galapagos" for more details. But, if I had to do it again, I would have picked an American agency for more accountability.

We pride ourselves on being independent travelers and almost always arrange our own flights, hotels, and other transportation. However, we did use a travel agency for our Galapagos cruise in September 2008. We used Columbus Travel in Quito. Our agent was Elena. She was able to provide a significant discount on our cruise, booked our flights to and from Guayaquil and the Galapagos, and provided our transfers from our hotel an and from the airport.

We paid with US dollars by wiring funds to Columbus Travel's Miami bank.

I admit that I was quite concerned about the transactions and was extremely relieved that every aspect of our trip was amazing.